Cat with image of Bastet on breast

Unknown

664–30 B.C. · Cupreous metal · Egyptian Art

Bastet was a powerful goddess of Lower Egypt, one who was protective and could bring about great prosperity. In zoomorphic form, she was represented as a cat and cats were considered sacred to her. As a cat, she is poised and alert, on guard against external forces. Like cat-headed Bastet statuettes, these seated cat statuettes often have special adornments. This figure has inset eyes for the addition of inlay and also wears an amulet on its chest. Cat statuettes were among some of the most common zoomorphic dedications of the Late and Ptolemaic Periods. Small statuettes would have been dedicated as offerings to temples or deposited in catacombs alongside cat mummies, as at the extensive catacombs at Bubastis and Saqqara. This example is somewhat large and hollow, and though it is now empty, it may once have held the remains of a small cat mummy.

Artist

Unknown

Date

664–30 B.C.

Medium

Cupreous metal

Department

Egyptian Art

Credit line

Gift of Darius Ogden Mills, 1904